For several decades, PVC and other types of stretch film have been made available as a low cost means of providing sealed packages of food. A wrapped package consists of a sheet of film overlying trayed produce and having its edges tucked beneath and overlapping at the underside of the tray. The overlapped edges are conventionally heat sealed by briefly placing the wrapped package on a heated pad. Hand wrapping is normally accomplished in the manner illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,949, issued to C. E. Michels. There is illustrated in that patent a handwrap station with one or more rolls of stretch film supported below a table surface. An operator standing at one side of the table pulls the leading edge from the film roll by grasping it at the corners, raises it, passes the film over the product and partly tucks the lead edge under the product while it rests on a wrap table or wrap bridge. The film and product are then drawn toward the operator and severed from the roll. This initially forms a sleeve. The outer edges of the sleeve are then stretched outwardly and tucked beneath the side edges of the package. The package is then placed on a sealing pad which is located adjacent the operator and typically heated to a temperature to cause the overlapping edges of the film to adhere. Under some circumstances a package is also temporarily touched to the sealing pad while still in sleeve form and before the two sleeve ends are tucked under. Frequently, the handwrap station is associated with a scale and label printer alongside, as shown in Berner U.S. Pat. No. 4,423,486, or the scale portion of the weighing/labeling system can be placed on the wrap table as illustrated in Kawahara U.S. Pat. No. 4,551,962.
Since stretch film wrapper has essentially replaced wrapping in cellophane and other types of film, and since the type of film used has no direct bearing on the invention itself, it should be understood that the term "stretch" embodies other films as well.